Feds: Juan Garcia, among FBI's Ten Most Wanted, surrenders

Juan Garcia, 21, a member of the MS-13 street gang who has lived in Baldwin, Central Islip and Inwood, is wanted in the February 2010 slaying of his former girlfriend, Vanessa Argueta, of Hempstead, and her son, Diego Torres, officials said at the New York FBI's Manhattan headquarters. Photo Credit: FBI

Under the glare of the spotlight of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, Juan Garcia is voluntarily returning to the United States to face charges in the execution-style murders of his 19-year-old former girlfriend and her toddler son on Long Island, officials said Friday.

Garcia, a member of the MS-13 street gang who meekly surrendered to FBI agents and Nicaraguan police Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, was being flown back to New York on an FBI plane, according to sources.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning at the U.S. District Court in Central Islip on the double-murder charges, according to Robert Nardoza, the spokesman for federal prosecutors in the Eastern District.

The surrender in Nicaragua came a day after Garcia was added to the FBI's widely publicized Top Ten list. The bureau offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Garcia's surrender was arranged by members of his family in his native El Salvador, sources said.

Agents contacted the family of Garcia, who is a native of El Salvador, and convinced them that he should surrender on the grounds that with the reward being offered, bounty hunters had a strong incentive to search for him, sources said. The bounty hunters might even go as far as kidnapping or hurting family members in an effort to pressure them into giving up his location, sources said.

Further, top leaders of the leadership of MS-13, who had not approved in advance the murder of the 2-year-old, were also known to want to harm Garcia, and would now have a greater incentive to also hunt for him, the sources said.